Total printing mechanism



Ap 19, 1932- J. BUCHTER 1,854,177

TOTAL PRINTING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 14, 1925 (/flil Ede/7187',

Patented Apr. 19, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE J'AN B'UCH'IEB, OI BERLIN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR, BY MFSNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO BEI- INGTON RAND INC 01 NEW YORK, N. Y A COEIORATION OI DELAWARE TOTAL PRINTING MECHANISM Application filed December 14, 1925, Serial No. 75,384, and in Germany December 80, 1924.

The present invention-relates to printing tabulating machines and more particularly to the printing tabulator for adding and printingroup totals.

ome of the objects of the present invention are to provide an improved printing tabulating machine; to provide a machine for obtaining sub-totals, accumulating further items and obtaining a final total; to provide means for restoring an accumulation of the counters when it has been rolled out in the taking of a total; to provide means for adding and printing a column of figures; accumulating the total of the column, rinting the total and continuing to add on t e accumulated total a second column of another group of numbers, printing such numbers and adding and printing the total of both groups; and to provide other improvements go as will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 represents a sectional elevation of a portion of a printing tabulator machine showing a total control embodying one form of the present g5 invention; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 represent respectively the several positions of the accumulator control; and Fig. 5 represents a detail showin the locking pin in its release position.

eferring to the drawings, one form of w the present invention is shown as a plied to a printing tabulator of the type escribed in German Patent No. 295,613, comprising a platen 10 upon which the numbers are printed by means of type sectors 11 carrying type 12 which are automatically positioned to be struck by the hammers 13. In the present instance but one type sector unit 11 and its adjuncts are shown by way of illustration, and the sector 11 is controlled by a segment 14 so that its arc of travel is predetermined for the type to be set up for prmting. The travel of the sector 11 is determined by a stop lug 15, which is under the control of stop pins (not shown), operated under the control of the card in the usual manner of such segments and as fully described in the aforesaid patent. The sector 11 is thrown to its type setting position by the spring 16 connected between its pivoted end and the frame of 5c the machine. A restoring bar 17 returns the parts to initial position after a type setting and printing operation. The segment 14 is providedwith a rack 18 which at a certain portion of the cycle of operations meshes with a pinion 20 on the counter or accumulator spindle 21 so that the counter is set to a position corresponding to the type number which .is printed; that is to say, if the sector 11 brings type number 8 into position for printing, then the accumulator pinion 20 will be turned so as to set up the numeral 8.

For the purpose of actuating the accumulator pinion 20 at the proper time in the cycle of operations, the spindle 21 is movably carried by arms 22 pivoted at 23 and arranged to be swung through the' required are to bring the pinion 20 into mesh with the rack 18 through the medium of a cam groove 24 framed in a swinging arm 25, which is pivoted at 26 to the base 27 of the machine. The cam groove 24 of the arm is so shaped as to cause the arms 22 to swing the pinion 20 out of meshing relation when the arm 25 ismoved counter-clockwise, as shown in Fig. 1, but when the latter is moved clockwise the arms 22 are then swung in the opposite direction to bring the pinion 20 into mesh with the rack 18. I

For shifting the arm 25 from one position to another, a, link 30 is provided, which is connected at 31 to the link 25, and has a stud 32 passing through a slot 33 of a link 34. When the link 30 is moved to the left, as seen in Fig. 1, it swings the arm 25 counterclockwise, and thereby withdraws the pinion 20 from meshing engagement with the rack 18, and this takes place during the forward swing of the rack 18 to bring the type to printin po sition during an adding operation. en the printing operation is completed, the link 30 is automatically moved to the right, thereby swinging the arm 25 clockwise so that the pinion 20 meshes with the raok 18, and upon the return stroke of the latter the pinion is turned to roll in an accumulation. At the completion of the adding operation and when a total is to be taken the total card controls the mechanism so that the pinion 20 is brought into mesh with the rack 18 on the for- Powers tabulator to which my invention is shown a lied, is fully described in the patent to W. Lasker, No. 1,376,555, dated May 3, 1921. As set forth in said patent and as commonly practiced with the Powers tabulator for many years, a stack of cards is put into the machine arranged in groups and between each two successive groups there is inserted a space card and a total taking card. As the item cards are fed through the machine one at a time the data indicated by the perforations in them are added and printed as herein above described. When the space card is fed through the machine the machine makes an idle operation in order to reset the transfer mechanism and when the total card is fed through the machine a certain perforation in that card as described in the Lasker patent causes the operating mechanism automatically to pull down the link 34, to hold it down during the total taking operation and then to restore it to normal position. When the total card is fed out of the machine and the first card of the next group is fed into operative position, the machine will again begin printing and adding the amounts indicated by the perforations in the cards of the second group. These operations will be repeated automatically without any attention by the operator for as many groups of cards as are stacked in the magazine of the machine.

In order to accomplish the change in relation between the rack segment 14 and the pinion 20, the link 30 is arranged to be shifted to another position by the automatic actuation of the link 34, and it will be noted that the upper edge of the link 30 has a recess 35 and the lower edge of the link has a recess 36, these two recesses being respectively arranged to receive pins 37 and 38 which are fixedly secured at opposite ends of a rock bar 40 on a shaft 41. Thus when adding items the link 34 has raised the link 30 so that the pin 37 rests-in the recess 35, as shown in Fig. 2, and

consequently the operating means working through the rock shaft 41 causes the link 30 to move to the left and thereby swing the arm 25 counterclockwise to place the adding or accumulator pinion 20 in inoperative position or out of mesh with the rack 18 during the operating stroke of the latter, and when the rock shaft 41 is turned back again the link 30 moves to the right and brings the pinion 20 into operative position or in mesh with the rack 18 at the desired time in the cycle of operations. When a total is to be printed, the link 34 is lowered and the link 30 moves into the position shown in Figure 3 so that the totalizer will remain engaged with the racks during the forward movement of the racks to roll out the accumulation and set the t pe carriers accordingly. At the end of the orward stroke the notch 36 of the link 30 will engage the pin 38 and through this connection the totalizer will be disengaged from the racks and the totalizer left at zero.

In the ordinary adding machine of the printing tabulator type the movement of the segment14 to set the type for the total also rolls out the accumulation of the pinion and counters 20 and brings the latter back to zero position, but as the machine of the present invention is arranged to accumulate and print a final'total a means is provided for returning the accumulator wheels or pinions 20 to the accumulated position of the total just taken, and in the present instance this is done by a mechanism which retains the pinion 20 in mesh with the rack 18 during the full stroke forward and back of'the segment 14. For carrying out this returning of the pinions to accumulated positions so that the following additions may be made to the total taken, 8. lug 42 is located to be engaged by a locking pin 43 which is mounted for sliding movement in a block 44 supported by a bracket 45 from the base and when in operative position is in the path of movement of the lug 42 and prevents lowering of the link 30 to engage the notch 36 with the pin 38, The pin 43 extends through the block 44 and terminates in a head 46 which is normally held so that the pin 43 is out of the path of the lug 42 by means of a compression spring 47 interposed between the head 46 and the block 44. The pin 43 is provided with a locking lug 48 which in one position of the pin 43 is in register with a slot 50 in the block 40 and thereby allows the spring 47 to propel the pin 43 to unlocked position, but when the pin is pushed into the path of the lug 42 and the knob 46 is turned, the pin 48 then abuts the side of the block 44 and retains the parts properly locked. The position of the lug 42 is such with respect to the link 30 that when it engages the pin 43 the link 30 will be in a neutral position as regards the crank or rock arm pins 37 and 38, as shown in Figure 4 and consequently the rock arm 40 moves independently of the link 30 and the latter is held fixed so that the arm 25 maintains the pinion 20 in mesh with the rack 18 during the forward and return movement of the rack.

It will now be apparent that a mechanism has been provided whereby a printing tabulator not only adds and prints several groups of numbers but also accumulates and prints the grand total of the several numbers. Thus, while the ordinary adding tabulator is capable of adding and totaling several groups, as shown in column A, it is noted that after each group addition the accumulator wheels must return to zero position,

while in accordance with'the present invention the group totals are added and printed as shown in column B and the zero position of the accumulators eliminated.

(Zero position) (Zero position) d (Zero position) locked in its inner and operative position the machine is set so that it takes the continuing totals shown above in column B,

automatically without any attention on the part of the operator. I am aware that listing and adding machines have heretofore been constructed and provided with a sub-total key which when depressed will cause the total indicated by the register wheels to be printed under the control of said wheels and then to be immediately rolled into the wheels and preserved so that when further items are printed they will be added to the total already accumulated and printed, producing a column of work of the same kind as shown in column B above. In all such prior machines, however, the sub-total key must of necessit be operated before the taking of each su -total. This is a thing done by the operator wheneverhe wishes to preserve a sub-total as distinguished from a total with clearing of the register. My device differs taken.

These tabulators are run by a motor and run oif items and totals very rapidly and it would not be practicable for an operator to stand by the side of one of these machines and press a sub-total key at precisely the right instant in the automatic operation of the machine to cause a sub-total to be taken.

He would not only have to operate the key at exactly the right instant but he would also have to release it at'exactly the right instant. Heretofore, in these machines where subtotals were desired as distinguished from totals with clearing, this has been accomplished entirely by hand, that is to say, instead of putting a total card between. the groups of cards in the magazine it has been the practice to put in a stop card which stopped the machine entirely. The operator must then start up the machine, manipulate it in such a way as to take a sub-total then set it to work on the next group of cards and at the end of that group go through the same manipulations.

It will be perceived that my key 46 is not like the sub-total keys of an adding or listing machine in that it does not at the time when it is operated cause a sub-total to be On the contrary, the time when the totals are taken is determined automatically by the machine and the cards, and my key 46 is a controlling key which determines that after the total has been automatically printed it shall be automatically restored to the register wheels.

It may be added that as described in the prior patents hereinbefore referred to, these tabulating machines commonly comprise a plurality of adding and printing units. They do not merely add and print one column of figures as shown above, for example, in column A, but each card may have perforations for a number of columns all of which are separately printed as the cards are run through the machine. In the Powers tabulator, parts of which are shown in the drawings, there is a link 30 and a link 34 for each of these adding and printing units, so that the key 46 is individual to one of these units. By my invention, therefore, by setting the key 46 or one of a'plurality of such keys, I may take totals without clearing in one column as in column B and at the same time totals with clearing in another column as in column A above.

In the claims total taking means printing a total and clearing the accumulator,

and sub-total takin means lprinting the total and leaving sai total in t e accumulator.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of printing mechanism, accumulating mechanism normally adapted to re ceive items, means .0 erable to condition the machine for total ta in'g, and settable means adapted to remain set during the normal ent of items and to c0+operate with the tota taking means to cause the machine to be conditioned for sub-total taking on operation of the first recited means.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of printing mechanism, accumulating mechanism normally adapted to receive items, means acting automatically from time to time to condition the machine for total taking, and settable means adapted to remain set during the normal entry of items and to cooperate with the total taking means to cause the machine to be conditioned for sub-total taking on each operation of the first recited means Signed at Berlin, Germany, this 25th day of November, 1925.

JAN BUCHTER. 

